Night Vision gear

[natterjack]

Can anyone recommend some IR equipment?

At the moment I'm not too sure exactly what I'm looking for, but I suppose a camera (moving image, not stills) of some kind that we could hope to use to capture mammal activity: Otters, Badgers, Bats etc. Something that could be set up under a bridge, outside a roost or sett or whatever, maybe with separate IR lighting, and ideally no need for cables to get the signal back to base-camp.

Setting it up as a web-cam at least some of the time would be one potential use, but we'd like to do some real surveys and monitoring with it too.

[Dan Salter]

Have a look here
www.alanaecology.com

Im sure they will do nightvision cams but as you probably already know they are not cheap !

Dan

[natterjack]

Thanks Dan - yes I know Alana, and their prices, but I don't think that IR gear is going to be cheap anywhere!

Alana have an introduction to IR stuff, which is handy, but I'd like to hear if anyone here has got experience of using any of it, or anything similar.

[nightshade]

Do not be tempted by ex iron-curtain kit even if it is cheap warehouse express do some kit

[eeyore]

this link shows you how to adapt a webcam to see in infra red - after this all you need is an infrared lightsource and presto - night vision on the cheap http://www.instructables.com/id/EF7R...7GZV/?ALLSTEPS

[natterjack]

Originally Posted by eeyore

this link shows you how to adapt a webcam to see in infra red - after this all you need is an infrared lightsource and presto - night vision on the cheap http://www.instructables.com/id/EF7R...7GZV/?ALLSTEPS

Yes, I've seen these hacks around in other places, and am considering this as an option. I don't know what kind of image quality you'd get, but considering the cost of the alternatives, I can afford quite a bit of experimentation, I suppose.

[eeyore]

image quality isnt great from most webcams but i suppose it depends on what you want to do with it.

[Forestknights]

The minimum standard for decent night vision would be G2 although if your budget can support it then G3 is great. I have used the top end night vision bins for keeping tabs on wildlife crime.

The image quality can be first class allowing for good subject recognition. There is no such thing as under the cover of darkness anymore.